NATO Phonetic Alphabet

The NATO phonetic alphabet, more accurately known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet and also called the ICAO phonetic or ICAO spelling alphabet, as well as the ITU phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet. Although often called "phonetic alphabets", spelling alphabets are not associated with phonetic transcription systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. Instead, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) alphabet assigned code words acrophonically to the letters of the English alphabet so that critical combinations of letters and numbers can be pronounced and understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of language barriers or the presence of transmission static.

The 26 code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet are assigned to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order as follows: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

Code words

The final choice of code words for the letters of the alphabet and for the digits was made after hundreds of thousands of comprehension tests involving 31 nationalities. The qualifying feature was the likelihood of a code word being understood in the context of others. For example, football has a higher chance of being understood than foxtrot in isolation, but foxtrot is superior in extended communication.

The pronunciation of the code words varies according to the language habits of the speaker. To eliminate wide variations in pronunciation, recordings and posters illustrating the pronunciation desired by the ICAO are available. However, there are still differences in pronunciation between the ICAO and other agencies, and the ICAO has conflicting Roman-alphabet and IPA transcriptions. Also, although all codes for the letters of the alphabet are English words, they are not in general given English pronunciations. Assuming that the transcriptions are not intended to be precise, only 11 of the 26—Bravo, Echo, Hotel, Juliet(t), Kilo, Mike, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Whiskey, and Zulu—are given English pronunciations by all these agencies, though not always the same English pronunciations.

Letters

Letter	Code word	US Army standard
A	Alfa ATIS: Alpha	AL fah
B	Bravo	BRAH voh
C	Charlie	CHAR lee
D	Delta	DEL tah
E	Echo	EKK oh
F	Foxtrot	FOKS trot
G	Golf	Golf
H	Hotel	HO tell
I	India	IN dee ah
J	Juliett ATIS: Juliet	JEW lee ett
K	Kilo	KEY loh
L	Lima	LEE mah
M	Mike	Mike
N	November	NOH vem ber
O	Oscar	OSS car
P	Papa	PAH pah
Q	Quebec	keh BECK
R	Romeo	ROW me oh
S	Sierra	see AIR ah
T	Tango	TANG go
U	Uniform	YOU nee form
V	Victor	VIK ter
W	Whiskey	WISS key
X	X-ray or Xray	EKS ray
Y	Yankee	YANG kee
Z	Zulu	ZOO loo
- (hyphen)	Dash	DASH

Digits

Digit	Code word	Pronunciation
0	Zero	ZEE-RO
1	One	WUN
2	Two	TOO
3	Three	TREE
4	Four	FOW-ER
5	Five	FIFE
6	Six	SIX
7	Seven	SEV-EN
8	Eight	AIT
9	Niner	NIN-ER
100	Hundred	HUN-dred
1000	Thousand	TOU-SAND
. (decimal point)	Decimal	DAY-SEE-MAL
. (full stop)	Stop	STOP

United States of Scary Things

There is nothing to fear, but, fear itself.

• Ted Bundy
• Hipsters
• Horror Movies
• Gambling Addiction
• Potato Bugs
• Unabomber
• Devil's Tower
• Mormons
• Heights
• Scorpions
• Falling Rocks
• Invading Canadians
• Ghost of Sitting Bull
• College Linebackers
• Tornadoes
• Indian Burial Grounds
• Killer Bees
• Floods
• Wal-Mart
• Lemp Mansion
• Moore Ax Murder House
• Drowning
• Cheese Heads
• Zombie Lincoln
• Zombie William Faulkner
• Hurricanes
• Hillbillies
• Bell Witch Cave
• Four Horsemen of KTY Derby
• Zombie Kimmy H off A
• Ghost Towns
• Jeffrey Dahmer
• Black Lung
• Zombie George Washington
• Rattlesnakes
• Zombie Stephen Colbert
• The Devil
• Zombie Benjamin Franklin
• Son of Sam
• Champ the Monster
• Zombie Robert Frost
• Lobster People
• Red Sox Fans
• Zombie Seth Macfarlane
• Zombie Ralph Nader
• Snookie
• Zombie Sugar Ray Leonard
• Politicians
• Bears
• Pele's Curse

Glass Beach - Playa De Cristal

Glass Beach is a beach in MacKerricher State Park near Fort Bragg, California that is abundant in sea glass created from years of dumping garbage into an area of coastline near the northern part of the town.

History

In the early 20th century, Fort Bragg residents threw their household garbage over cliffs owned by the Union Lumber Company onto what is now Glass Beach, discarding glass, appliances, and even vehicles. Locals referred to it as "The Dumps." Fires were lit to reduce the size of the trash pile.

The California State Water Resources Control Board and city leaders closed the area in 1967. Various cleanup programs were undertaken through the years to correct the damage. Over the next several decades the pounding waves cleaned the beach, by breaking down everything but glass and pottery and tumbling those into the small, smooth, colored pieces that cover Glass Beach.

In 1998, the private owner of the property determined that Glass Beach should belong to the public, and began a five year process of working with the California Coastal Conservancy and the California Integrated Waste Management Board for the cleanup and sale of the property to the state. Following completion of the clean up, the California Department of Parks and Recreation purchased the 38-acre (150,000 m2) Glass Beach property, and it was incorporated into MacKerricher State Park in October 2002.

Tourism

The beach is now frequently visited by tourists. Collecting is not permitted on the park's beach, although sea glass can be found on other local beaches outside the park boundary and an annual Glass Festival is held annually on Memorial Day weekend.

President Obama Inauguration - Family Moment

The Presidential Inauguration at 4:53 PM Live on CNN. The Obama family had a funny moment captured.

Deep fried donut bacon cheeseburgers

Deep fried donut bacon cheeseburgers
Amurika!

Canadian's thoughts on US elections

As a Canadian for all my life, I'm not completely knowledgeable about the United States' political system.

I know it's a two party system and facts like that. But what I think. I think it would be in the United States best interest to elect Mitt Romney, because what I know about him is he's a capitalist, I would expect him to run the county like a business, cut costs, make logical decisions and ultimately turn a profit. Which is something America desperately needs these days. Obama has had 4 years and the US is still on the brink of a depression and as one of the greatest economies in the world, if the US goes into a depression that would have a terrible impact on the rest of the world, including my beloved nation of Canada.

Watching C-Span at the moment, it seems like Obama is going to win the election despite the Republican's early lead.

I deeply hope for the United States' economy to recover and return to a thriving economy as it once was. And have learned from it's mistakes. In addition to the US being Canada's closest economic partner, I have a personal investment in the United States well-being.

On a brighter note, Barack has been the President of the United States for the past four years which would be a positive in the case of his victory because his administration has ongoing projects and objectives that may continue, uninterrupted, and potentially aid the US economy.

In my opinion the American people see Republican's as cold, corporate machines that put the rich first, and the Democrats as a more warm and friendly candidate, so the average voter will be more likely to vote Democrat because they want to protect themselves as the middle class.

Experts say the middle class is dying, not only in North America but all around the world. The world economy would be better off to start preparing for a world without a middle class.

This United States Presidency Election is a nail biting event that I can't wait to see who is declared the winner, and follow the progress of the 2012-2016 United States President and his progress and the impact it has on the rest of the world.

USA's National Anthem

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"

Millions grew up reciting this every morning in school with a hands on their hearts. They no longer do that for fear of offending someone!

Let's see how many Americans will re-post and not care about offending someone!

America, Now Available on Mars

McDonald's, Wal-Mart, KFC and Starbucks, now located on Mars for your convenience

Living in 'CA' Rocks

So the area code 'CA' is that supposed to be Canada or California (An American State)?

For example Canada is a county and therefore has presidency over a single state. But then again, from the 2011 census California, USA has a greater population by 3,209,133 people, that's like 91% of California's population is equal to the entire Canadian population.

So as a Canadian I tend to assume CA is short for Canada, unless there is reference to American material then chances are the abbreviation is being used for California.

Canada 34,482,779 - 2011

California 37,691,912 - 2011

If one of the 50 American states' population outnumber all of Canada, then Canada has very few people in comparison to The United States, but then considering there are billions and billions of people residing in densely concentrated cities in only a few Eastern countries then by relation the US isn't overly populated, and Canada is practically empty, this is nice, it feels like Canada is the first class of the global community. Tons of leg room, fresh air, pretty of food and resources, life is sweet.

Obesity Epidemic

"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."

~The Buddha~

The obesity epidemic.
50% of this next generation will probably have type 2 diabetes.
It may be the first generation in history to have a shorted life span than the one before.

USA vs Canada

 Admit it
You now want to live in Canada

Top 10 U.S. Sex Laws

1. Oral sex is illegal in 18 states, including Arizona.
2. In Virginia, it is illegal to have sex with the lights on.
3. It is illegal for husbands in Willowdale, Oregon, to talk dirty during intercourse.
4. Sexual intercourse between unmarried couples is illegal in Georgia.
5. Engaging in any sexual position other than missionary is illegal in Washington, DC.
6. In Connorsville, Wisconsin, it is illegal for a man to shoot off a gun when his female partner is have an orgasm.
7. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, it is illegal to have sex with a truck driver inside a toll booth.
8. Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal in Florida.
9. It is illegal in Utah to marry your first cousin before the age of 65.
10. Sex with animals is perfectly legal for men in Washington state, as long as the animal weighs less than 40 pounds.

"Why not just outlaw all sexual relations everywhere as illegal deeds?"

United States Debt Crisis

Okay so it's been rattling around in my head for a while, questions regarding the United States Debt problem and how could they let it come to this, how are they going to solve it, how can the debts be payed off without selling out the integrity of the nation, and more.

A plausible answer has come to me and I fear if it to be true. If it is reality I appologize for any jeopardy I might be instigating to the plan but the people running the show most definitely have securities in place against any risk to the plan that may arise.

The United States government has been in debt for years are the amount rises year after year with no end in sight. As foreign entities lend more and more money to the USA tacking on inflation rates and the monstrous total, penetrating the trillions how can this crisis possibly end in any other way than the entire nation being bought by which ever conglomerate of nations with the majority of loaned money. A century ago man tried to conquer nations through the means of force and military advancement, that did not work, so today conquest is acted out through fiscal superiority, who ever has the most money will take the world. Now back to by main point, how is the government going to get out of this? The answer is World War 3. I suspect the government has been using extensive resources to prepare for the final world war, building countless massive fallout shelters all over the United States, stocking them with many years of supplies and developing self sustaining technology such as energy, water and food that will be able to support millions of Americans safely underground until the radiation from the bombs has dispersed. Once every living thing on the planet has been wiped out, the inhabitants of the fallout shelters will be able to venture out, back into the world, unopposed, restoring the planet. And using the fallout shelters to house the planets foremost popular wildlife, they will be able to repopulate amongst themselves, unopposed as well.

So there you have it.

Two possible ending to the United States debt crisis.

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is a date considered to be bad luck in western superstition.

According to folklorists, there is no written evidence for a "Friday the 13th" superstition before the 19th century. The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in Henry Sutherland Edwards' 1869 biography of Gioachino Rossini, who died on a Friday 13th.

He [Rossini] was surrounded to the last by admiring friends; and if it be true that, like so many Italians, he regarded Fridays as an unlucky day and thirteen as an unlucky number, it is remarkable that one Friday 13th of November he died.

Several theories have been proposed about the origin of the Friday the 13th superstition.

One theory states that it is a modern amalgamation of two older superstitions: that thirteen is an unlucky number and that Friday is an unlucky day.

• In numerology, the number twelve is considered the number of completeness, as reflected in the twelve months of the year, twelve hours of the clock, twelve gods of Olympus, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve Apostles of Jesus, the 12 successors of Muhammad in Shia Islam, etc., whereas the number thirteen was considered irregular, transgressing this completeness. There is also a superstition, thought by some to derive from the Last Supper or a Norse myth, that having thirteen people seated at a table will result in the death of one of the diners.

• Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales, and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys, begin new projects or deploy releases in production. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s.

• One author, noting that references are all but nonexistent before 1907 but frequently seen thereafter, has argued that its popularity derives from the publication that year of Thomas W. Lawson's popular novel Friday, the Thirteenth, in which an unscrupulous broker takes advantage of the superstition to create a Wall Street panic on a Friday the 13th.

• Records of the superstition are rarely found before the 20th century, when it became extremely common. The connection between the Friday the 13th superstition and the Knights Templar was popularized in Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code and in John J. Robinson's 1989 work Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry. On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of the Knights Templar were arrested in France, an action apparently motivated financially and undertaken by the efficient royal bureaucracy to increase the prestige of the crown. Philip IV was the force behind this ruthless move, but it has also tarnished the historical reputation of Clement V. From the very day of Clement V's coronation, the king falsely charged the Templars with heresy, immorality and abuses, and the scruples of the Pope were compromised by a growing sense that the burgeoning French State might not wait for the Church, but would proceed independently. However, experts agree that this is a relatively recent correlation, and most likely a modern-day invention.

The fear of Friday the 13th has been called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga being the name of the Norse goddess for whom "Friday" is named and triskaidekaphobia meaning fear of the number thirteen), or paraskevidekatriaphobia a concatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή, meaning "Friday"), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς, meaning "thirteen") attached to phobía (φοβία, from phóbos, φόβος, meaning "fear"). The latter word was derived in 1911 and first appeared in a mainstream source in 1953.

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of this day making it the most feared day and date in history. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. "It's been estimated that [US]$800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day". Despite this, representatives for both Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines say that their airlines do not suffer from any noticeable drop in travel on those Fridays.

Walmart BINGO

• Entire family wearing Camo
• Barefoot Child
• Homeless person acting as Greeter
• Bearded Lady
• Person with an Eye-patch
• Woman wearing Pajamas
• Person buying both Beer and Diapers
• Kid riding Bike in the store
• Body Odor
• Rebel Flag T-Shirt
• Middle-aged Man with no Teeth
• Woman with a Mullet

• White Girl with 3+ Multiracial Kids
• Man with vomit on his Shirt
• Man sporting a "Rat Tail"
• Can Decal depicting Urination
• Family Giving away Kittens
• Someone over 300 Pounds
• Pregnant Girl with "Tramp Stamp"
• World Boy
• Pickles sold in Bulk
• Low Prices
• Half Eaten Candy Bar
• Man wearing Crocs and Wifebeater

I played in a Canadian Walmart but I didn't win. - Le sigh -

Captain America Fourth of July

Captain America's costume is different now than it was back then. Why doesn't his helmet have wings anymore? Can Captain America fly? 

Well here's a comic book cover illustrating Captain America in a one sided fight with Adolf Hitler.

To my knowledge stories of Captain America battling Nazis is a common theme for the Captain, at least much more than any other super heroes. I assume it has some sort of origins stemming from how all superheroes protect those that need to be protected from evil-doers. And in the real world the Nazis were committing genocide and other atrocities. The United States turned the tide of war and through story telling Captain America is an embodiment, a symbol, of America's intervention onto the war. So in summary the illustration above, of Captain America dealing a blow to Hitler, Captain America is representing America and Hitler represents the command and whole of the Axis forces. Thus taking into consideration the Nazi soldiers firing at Captain America to show how America mounted their advances in Europe against the native enemies. So America was directly responsible for the victory of the Allied forces.

Independence Day 4th of July (United States)

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, and political speeches and ceremonies, in addition to various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the national day of the United States.

History

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia declaring the United States independent from Great Britain. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the wording of the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Adams's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.

Historians have long disputed whether Congress actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, even though Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all later wrote that they had signed it on that day. Most historians have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.

In a remarkable coincidence, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the only signers of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as Presidents of the United States, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration. Although not a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but another Founding Father who became a President, James Monroe, died on July 4, 1831, thus becoming the third president in a row who died on this memorable day. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President, was born on July 4, 1872, and, so far, is the only President to have been born on Independence Day.

In God We Trust, And Star Wars

Somewhere in a parallel universe where the worlds of Star Wars and the American Revolution converge, it would look something like this. Forces of Jedi verse Sith battle for freedom under the watchful eye of the partial Death Star.

They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but ultimately the Lightsaber is mightier than the pen, the sword or the pen-sword.